FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DALE CHIHULY - PAGE 2

Italo Scanga was cooking one of his extravagant hot-plate lunches in his San Diego studio when he died July 27. The 69-year-old artist left a renowned and eclectic body of work, a generation of devoted students, and a brother (of choice): Dale Chihuly. Scanga's "Fear of Drinking," executed in cork, tree limb, child's top and bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, stretches its long arms in the guest room at Chihuly's Seattle studio, still labeled "Italo's Room." "We drank a lot of good wine together," sighs Chihuly, apprentice, collaborator and friend to Scanga for nearly 35 years.

"Persian Pool," one of the most popular of Dale Chihuly's installations at the Garfield Park Conservatory may well be staying after the rest of the show comes down on Nov. 4. As a result of discussions to retain all or part of the hugely successful "Art in the Garden" exhibition, the artist has offered to sell the conservatory one of the most evocative components of his glass sculpture installation, the 16 pieces that encircle a pond like waterlilies...

Here are some of the more interesting deals, websites and other travel tidbits that came across our desk recently: •Liberty Travel is offering four-night packages in Jamaica, including round-trip air from Chicago, from $775 per person, double occupancy. You have to book by July 31 for travel from Oct. 7-31. 877-823-8888, tinyurl.com/lpor5gq •The Online Vacation Center has four-night Caribbean cruises for less than $200 per person, double occupancy, for departures in September.

Police said they learned little Monday about who broke a $70,000 Chihuly glass sculpture, but the artist said the incident has not soured him on the Garfield Park Conservatory exhibit of his work. "This unfortunate incident does not dampen my enthusiasm about the show in any way," Dale Chihuly said in a statement. "We will be replacing the Ikebana piece as soon as possible." The glass sculpture was part of the popular exhibit that has been at the conservatory since November.

While the oversized conch-shell shapes are reminiscent of a Dale Chihuly glass vessel, the "slumping" technique glass artist TOOTS ZYNSKY uses is quite different and produces a different effect. Originally Zynsky pulled a variety of very fine glass threads by hand and combined them into textured wholes reminiscent of color-field paintings. Recently she has used a pulling machine that allows her to create much finer ribbons of color with less breakage -- ribbons she fuses in glorious patterns.

It can be cast, rolled, blown, spun, slumped, carved, cut, pulled, stained, painted, colored, engraved, etched, laminated and enameled. But vases and paperweights, plates and bowls are still the traditional range of art objects assigned to glass. Except for a few big names like Tiffany and Lalique, glasswork didn`t make the transition from an applied art to a pure art form until 1962, when Dominick Labino, an artist and scientist, developed a new formula for glass that could be melted in a small kiln.

What would seem to be a simple crime to solve remained a mystery Monday as Chicago Park District officials and police continued to try to determine who broke a $70,000 glass sculpture at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The piece was part of the popular Dale Chihuly exhibit at the conservatory since November. The sculpture was broken during a wedding anniversary party Friday evening. The Park District has refused to release the name of the couple who rented the Horticulture House section of the conservatory.

The mixed-media works of the late BILL TRAYLOR ought not to be judged only in the context of African-American folk art. The former slave and sharecropper, whose work was discovered in his Mississippi sidewalk studio in 1939, when he was 85, produced more than 1,500 pieces over the next four years. While Traylor's crisp, striking images may have come from the hands of an untrained artist, they have a universally appealing rhythm, movement and vision. Despite his limited palette and spareness of detail, Traylor conveys the importance and depth of the people, animals and objects that existed in his world and imagination.

Now you can see the Garfield Park Conservatory -- and its blockbuster Chihuly exhibit -- in a whole new light. The West Side greenhouse recently extended its hours to accommodate the surge of visitors to the exhibit, which features dozens of graceful, transluscent sculptures by Seattle glass artist Dale Chihuly planted among the flora. The exhibit now is open till 8 p.m. Thursdays and weekends until the exhibit ends May 19. "The conservatory is gorgeous at night," says Lisa Roberts, conservatories director for the Chicago Park District.

A year ago, few Chicago residents would have thought about taking out-of-town visitors to the Garfield Park Conservatory. But all that has changed thanks to the enduring success of a single exhibit: Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass. The popularity of Washington state artist Dale Chihuly, positive word of mouth and a small but highly visible marketing campaign has made the West Side's hidden gem a giant tourist draw, officials say. Widespread marketing is a new strategy for the Park District, which in recent years has developed its own monthly cable-access show, quirky advertising slogans and glossy brochures.